Method and System for Hierarchy-Based Partner Selection

1. An on-line shopping method, comprising: accessing by a transacting partner user, via a sales engine executing on a processor, a product catalog of a shopping system; accessing, via the sales engine, a partner database storing data in a hierarchical node/tree structure identifying a plurality of partners, which are business entities, entitled to use a shopping system, wherein a transacting partner at a first node position in a hierarchy is entitled to place orders on behalf of partners at nodes that are child nodes to the first node; identifying, to the transacting partner user by the sales engine, which other partners from the plurality of partners on whose behalf the transacting partner user is entitled to place orders based on an analysis of the partner database by the sales engine wherein a transacting partner's entitlement to order on behalf of other partners is based on the transacting partners position in the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database; and authenticating a transacting partner user's entitlement to order from a product catalog on a shopping system based on the results of the identifying.

2. The on-line shopping method of claim 1 , further comprising: supporting product browsing of the product database and ordering by the transacting partner user; and throughout the product browsing and ordering, displaying only the identified set of partners to the transacting partner user as transacting entities.

3. The on-line shopping method of claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database comprises a plurality of nodes related to the relative position of the plurality of partners; and wherein the analysis of the partner database comprises: accessing, by the sales engine, the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database, and filtering nodes of the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database using the position of the transacting partner in the hierarchical node/tree structure with respect to the plurality of partners as a filtering condition.

4. An on line shopping system, comprising: a sales engine executing on a processor, the processor configured to operate according to program instructions for placing orders on behalf of a transacting partner, wherein the transacting partner is a business entity, a product database storing a product catalog of the shopping system accessible by the sales engine, a partner database, accessible by the sales engine, storing data in a hierarchical node-tree structure identifying a plurality of partners, which are business entities, entitled to use the shopping system wherein the transacting partner is a business entity, and a transacting partner at a first node position in a hierarchy is entitled to place orders on behalf of partners at nodes that are child nodes to the first node; wherein the processor is further configured to: identify to the transacting partner which other partners from the plurality of partners on whose behalf the transacting partner are entitled to place orders, wherein a transacting partner's entitlement to order on behalf of other partners is based on the transacting partners position in the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database, authenticate a customer as a surrogate for the transacting partner by accessing the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database, support product browsing of the product database and ordering by the authenticated customer for the identified partners, and throughout the product browsing and ordering, display only the identified partners to the customer as transacting entities.

5. The shopping system of claim 1 , further comprising a communication manager to support communications between the sales engine and an external terminal.

6. An on line shopping system, comprising: a sales engine executing on a processor, the processor operating according to program instructions to place orders on behalf of a transacting partner, wherein the transacting partner is a business entity, the sales engine configured to authenticate and grant access to a transacting partner user; a product database storing a product catalog of the shopping system accessible by the sales engine, a partner database, accessible by the sales engine, storing data in a hierarchical node/tree structure identifying a plurality of partners, which are business entities, entitled to use the shopping system wherein a partner at a first node position in a hierarchy is entitled to place orders on behalf of partners at nodes that are child nodes to the first node; wherein the processor is further configured to: identify to the transacting partner user, which other partners from the plurality of partners on whose behalf the transacting partner user is entitled to place orders, based on an analysis of the partner database wherein a transacting partner's entitlement to order on behalf of other partners is based on the transacting partners position in a hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database.

7. The shopping system of claim 6 , further comprising a communication manager to support communications between the sales engine and an external terminal.

8. A machine-readable storage medium for storing instructions to cause a processor to perform an on-line shopping method, the method comprising the steps of: accessing by a transacting partner user, via a sales engine executing on a processor, a product catalog of a shopping system; accessing, via the sales engine, a partner database storing data in a hierarchical node/tree structure identifying a plurality of partners, which are business entities, entitled to use a shopping system, wherein a transacting partner at a first node position in a hierarchy is entitled to place orders on behalf of partners at nodes that are child nodes to the first node; identifying, to the transacting partner user by the sales engine, which other partners from the plurality of partners on whose behalf the transacting partner user is entitled to place orders based on an analysis of the partner database by the sales engine wherein a transacting partner's entitlement to order on behalf of other partners is based on the transacting partners position in the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database; and authenticating a transacting partner user's entitlement to order from a product catalog on a shopping system based on the results of the identifying.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 for storing instructions to cause a processor to perform an on line shopping method, further comprising the steps of: support product browsing of the product database and ordering by the transacting partner user for partners for whom the transacting partner user is permitted to place orders; and throughout the product browsing and ordering, displaying only the identified set of partners to the transacting partner user as transacting entities.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database comprises a plurality of nodes related to the relative position of the plurality of partners; and wherein the analysis of the partner database comprises: accessing, by the sales engine, the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database, and filtering nodes of the hierarchical node/tree structure of the partner database using the position of the transacting partner in the hierarchical node/tree structure with respect to the plurality of partners as a filtering condition.